Family and Green Hair
by XiaoFeng
Summary: It is a nice warm day on the Sunny, and a chance question has Zoro talking about his family. Sort of a side-story or sequel to 'My Boys' but it can be read alone.


**Disclaimer: I do not own anything.**

**A/N: This is a sort of sequel or side-story to 'My Boys', but it can be read on its own. You don't need to read the other one, though I recommend it.**

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The day was warm and fine, and everyone was on deck enjoying the beautiful day. Nami and Robin sat reading quietly in one corner, while Brook and Franky played a duet. Luffy, Usopp and Chopper were painting, and as per usual, Zoro and Sanji were having one of their fights again. No one paid any mind to the insults being thrown around.

Sanji was yelling, "Why the hell do you have green hair anyway? Who the hell has green hair?"

"How the hell do I know?" Zoro shot back.

"Maybe he got it from his parents?" Brook spoke up, not having been in the crew long enough to be familiar with the unspoken rule about asking about each other's families and pasts. Still, it was enough to get everyone's attention. After all, they didn't often get to hear Zoro talking about himself or his family.

Zoro noticed their attention and grunted irritably. He didn't really mind being asked, but it annoyed him to be the center of attention like this. "My father was a pale blonde. I never met my mother, so I probably got it from her."

"Damn marimo, don't blame your shortcomings on a lady! Why would a lady have your damned marimo hair? I've never met a woman with green hair!"

This time, it was Luffy who chimed in. "Ah, Makino-neechan has green hair."

All eyes turned to Luffy. "Luffy, after your _brother_ and your _father_ and _grandfather_, you still have a _sister_?" Usopp asked faintly. Luffy's family tree was crazy enough as it was. What kind of famous monster would his sister be?"

"Nah." Luffy shook his head. "Makino-neechan is the lady who owns the local bar. She helped to raise Ace and me."

"Someone who has had to raise those two...she's either really patient or a monster in her own right," Nami muttered. Looking after Luffy alone was a migraine in the making. Ace was all right, but he couldn't be completely normal - he _was_ Luffy's brother after all.

"The old granny back at Water 7 has hair is kinda green too," Franky pointed out. "It's kinda yellow-green. The chibi got that hair from her."

"Ha, idiot cook," Zoro grinned triumphantly. "There are other people in this world with green hair. That'll teach you to accuse people so quickly."

"Kokoro-baasan is a mermaid, though," Robin said logically. "I imagine green hair is good for camouflage down on the sea-floor, and Chimney got her genes."

"That still leaves Makino-neechan, though," Luffy said. "Na, Zoro, do you know her?"

"I never stepped out of my village until the time I joined the dojo," Zoro muttered. "After that, I practically lived there."

"Maybe you're long-lost relatives!" Chopper piped in excitedly.

"Impossible," Zoro said. "My grandparents said all my other relatives were dead."

"Wait, Zoro, you still have _grandparents_?" Nami demanded.

The swordsman shrugged. "They're the ones who raised me after my parents died."

"Are they still around, then?" Usopp asked.

"Probably. Who knows?" The fight forgotten, Zoro sheathed his swords, his expression thoughtful. "If they haven't seen my wanted poster yet, they probably think I'm dead. It's been...what...twelve years since I left the village and joined the dojo?"

Nami, calculating quickly, stared at Zoro. "You left your village to join a dojo at _seven_?"

Zoro looked vaguely uncomfortable as he remembered what happened the day he left.

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_"Zoro, I need you to run a small errand for me," Zoro's grandmother called him. The little green-haired boy came over at once, looking eager. He was an energetic boy with stamina to burn, so his grandparents had been looking for ways to keep him occupied while out from underfoot._

_"I need you to go into town and pick up the milk I've forgotten," his grandmother said. "Could you do that?"_

_"No problem, Grandma! I'll get it!" Little Zoro was already running for the front door._

_"It's a straight path into the market! Just follow the path!" His grandmother called as the little boy already disappeared into the distance._

_"Are you sure it's a good idea sending him out like this?" His grandfather asked._

_"It's not that far off, and there's only one path. He won't get into any trouble."_

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But of course, as the Straw Hats would later learn, Zoro was completely incapable of going anywhere unsupervised because he would get lost at the first notice. Shortly after his house vanished from sight, Zoro decided to take a short cut and before long, was hopelessly lost.

There was no way Zoro was going to tell them _that_ though. He caught enough shit from the rest of them when he got lost normally. They'd never let him forget it if he told them he got lost while going to get milk, and somehow finding himself stowing away on a ship (he fell asleep in an empty crate that got loaded in) and then on a different island entirely.

He'd only found the dojo by complete chance, and his sensei had taken him in. It helped that he'd always thought swords were cool, so before long, he was on his way to becoming his sensei's second-best pupil (Kuina was the best).

"So what of it?" Zoro retorted gruffly to Nami, who shrugged, thinking that his obsession with becoming the greatest probably just started young. She wouldn't have been surprised if it had. Zoro was the kind of person who would be absolutely single-minded about goals like that.

The topic was closed for the day, but as Usopp cleared the art supplies, he looked at the paints as a thought struck him.

"Na, guys," he said. "Maybe Zoro's green hair didn't come from one parent, but two." At their puzzled looks, he explained, holding up the tubes of blue and yellow paints. "Blue plus yellow makes green, doesn't it? And if Zoro's father is blonde..."

There was a short silence while Luffy exclaimed about Mystery Paints that changed colors when mixed together, and then Sanji's chagrined wail could be heard for miles around.

"NOOO~! MINE AND VIVI-CHAN'S CHILDREN ARE GOING TO BE LITTLE MARIMOS! NOOOOOOO!"

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**I wasn't planning on ending it like that, but it just jumped out at me. Poor Sanji, he's going to be doomed to taking care of little marimos. I'm more of a Vivi/Kohza fan, but I just had to torture Sanji a little.**


End file.
